WYHH & YMCA MERGE REC LEAGUES

Posted by Lee Spooner on 5/2/2019

Dear YMCA Soccer Family Past & Present,

Tomorrow we will be making an announcement regarding our youth soccer programming. I wanted to take this time to share this news with you a day early as you are currently or have recently played in our youth Soccer Program. After several months of discussions, critical-thinking and thorough planning between the Wilmington Hammerheads Youth FC and YMCA leadership, I am excited to announce that we have reached an agreement to merge the two organizations’ recreational soccer programs, forming a league that will improve the experience for all of our members. This new league will begin in the fall of 2019. The YMCA will run and operate this new recreational league but it is very much a partnership between the two organizations.

For me personally, recreational soccer is about kids having fun. I started as a parent with a child on a NAC (Need A Coach) team 12 years ago and fell in love with this respectful, competitive and just fun game. 5 years ago during one of my coaching courses we discussed that 70% of kids stop playing by the age of 13. 7 out of 10 just stop. “This is broken!” is all I could think. 4 years later we are here today to bring together over 3,500 kids to play soccer. ONE GOAL…Have Fun! Through this partnership there will be a clear pathway for those kids that just fall in love with the game beyond the recreational level, this is where the Hammerheads organization will come in.

Below is the official press release for tomorrow. I will have a Q & A page on www.ymcasenc.org/soccer as well as links to all our programs and Hammerhead programs as well. For our league of 1,500 and their league of 2,100 we will be able to do more games closer to your home. Practice at Ogden during the week….play at Ogden on Saturday. Our league will have access to the following fields for practice options and some for games this Fall. Market Street YMCA, Midtown YMCA, Ogden Park/Eaton Fields, Hugh MacRae Athletic Complex, Northern Regional Park Fields, Belville Elementary School, Veterans Park Sports Complex & Cape Fear Regional Soccer Park.

Please click here to see official press release.

YMCA AND WILMINGTON HAMMERHEADS PARTNER TO CREATE THE LARGEST RECREATIONAL YOUTH SOCCER PROGRAM IN SOUTHEASTERN NC

http://d13ynksnjelk36.cloudfront.net/Downloads/4626/4626_15567468936982209_15378.pdf

I appreciate your patience this season as this has taken a lot of my attention. I am sure there will be many questions over the next few months. I assure you I will keep you informed and included in dates where we open it up to the league for discussions.

Thank you to our awesome volunteer coaches, great spectators, energetic players and the entire YMCA team for another great season. The growth in our program comes from your word of mouth and your children’s experiences in our program. For those that this has been your first year in our program you will now know more than 2,000 others on what to do in the fall, promise it gets easier.

See you on the fields….

Lee Spooner, Director of Athletics

YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina

(910) 251-9622 x232 [email protected]

The Y: We’re for youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.